Michael J. Cohen

Michael J. Cohen is a partner in Gibson Dunn 's New York office and a member of the Business Restructuring and Reorganization Practice Group. Michael represents a diverse array of parties in bankruptcy and insolvency matters, distressed investments, acquisitions and financings, debt exchanges, and in-court and out-of-court restructurings.

Awards and Accolades:

• The Best Lawyers in America®, “Bankruptcy & Creditor Debtor Rights, Insolvency & Reorganization Law” (2024 - 2026)
• Lawdragon, “Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers” (2024 - 2025)
• The Legal 500 - United States, “Leading Lawyer in Bankruptcy” (2024 - 2025)

Representative Clients and Transactions:

• Altice France: Represented an ad hoc group of secured lenders in its global restructuring, addressing approximately €24 billion of secured debt and representing the first large-scale liability management exercise in Europe.
• Endo International plc: Represented an ad hoc secured creditor group in the complex restructuring of this pharmaceutical company, negotiating several transformative settlements, including with numerous tort claimants and the U.S. Department of Justice, that anchored the debtors’ chapter 11 plan and accompanied the reduction of $8 billion of funded debt and $3 billion of newly raised debt and equity capital at exit.
• Serta Simmons: Represented secured lenders in restructurings and related transactions with this leading mattress manufacturer.
• Mallinckrodt plc: Represented secured lenders in the two in-court restructurings of this pharmaceutical manufacturer.
• Klöckner Pentaplast: Represented an ad hoc group of secured lenders in its prepackaged chapter 11 cases, which eliminated approximately €1.3 billion of funded debt and transitioned ownership to the lenders.
• Cumulus Media: Represented an ad hoc group of first lien lenders in its prepackaged chapter 11 restructuring, eliminating approximately $600 million of debt.
• Del Monte Foods: Represented an ad hoc group of first lien lenders.
• Cano Health: Represented secured lenders in its prearranged chapter 11 restructuring and multiple post-emergence financings.
• LaserShip: Represented an ad hoc group of secured lenders in connecting with a financing for this package delivery company, addressing $1.5 billion in maturing debt.
• Lumileds: Served as creditors’ counsel in its cross-border prepackaged chapter 11.

Michael earned his law degree from Fordham University School of Law, where he was a member of Fordham Law Review and was awarded the American Bankruptcy Institute Medal of Excellence and the Benjamin Finkel Prize for his academic work on bankruptcy law. He graduated with highest honors from Rutgers University, where he was a Henry Rutgers Scholar. Michael served as a law clerk for Judge Stephen D. Gerling of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York.

Capabilities

• Business Restructuring and Reorganization

Credentials

Education:

• Fordham University - 2002 Juris Doctor
• Rutgers University - 1998 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• New Jersey Bar
• New York Bar

Clerkships:

• US Bankruptcy Court, New York Northern District, Hon. Stephen D. Gerling, 2003 - 2004